Handbook of Phonetics and Phonology of Modern Iranian Languages

This handbook brings together current research on the phonetics and phonology of the Modern Iranian languages to provide a comprehensive overview of the main phonetic and phonological phenomena in these languages. These two fields, like other areas of linguistics, have undergone rapid advances in the past decade due to developments in experimental methods and phonological models. These changes render Iranian languages and their varieties a promising area of research which can make a significant contribution to general linguistic knowledge, and advance our understanding of cross-linguistic variation. The spread of Iranian language family is wide ranging, from Central Turkey in the west to the Uygur region of China in the east. In the North, it includes Ossetic and Yaghnobi, while in the South it includes languages such as Kumzari spoken in part of Oman. Despite the wide range of Iranian languages, only four of these languages are the official languages of the country in which they are spoken: Persian, Dari, Tajik, and Pashto. As a result, many Iranian languages have not been the prime goal of organizations/agencies which try to document and preserve languages. This handbook offers readers a state-of-the-art report of research in the field with a special emphasis on these less-studied Iranian languages and varieties. Relevant to linguists working in phonetics, both in Iranian and other languages, this book provides an overview of cutting edge and current linguistic knowledge.